ARTICLES ABOUT FESTIVE SEASON BY DATE - PAGE 4

NEW DELHI: The festive season has failed to bring cheer to the real estate market, with builders and brokers reporting "notso-encouraging" sales over the past two weeks. Unlike the boom years, builders this year had resisted the temptation to launch new projects in the season, focussing instead on reducing the inventory that has piled up over the past few quarters. According to property research firm Liases Foras , there were about 7.6 lakh unsold apartments across India at the end of June.

NEW DELHI: E-commerce firm Snapdeal today said its marketing campaign for the festive season received good response from consumers as it managed a growth of 100 per cent in sales for categories like apparel, footwear and electronic gadgets. The company had launched the marketing campaign "Diwali Bumper Sale" earlier last month. "With leading categories like apparel, footwear, home decor and electronic gadgets witnessing a growth of nearly 100 per cent in sales during this period over the preceding 30 day average, Snapdeal recorded the highest jump in total transactions in the last 2.5 years, outpacing the growth witnessed during the festive season in 2013," Snapdeal said in a statement.

BANGALORE: The past 45 days, beginning from Janmashtami, have seen brisk online sales of spiritual products. Spurred by the ongoing festive season, there is hectic shopping online. And purchase of items such as idols, yantras (a mystical diagram that brings good luck) and prayer accessories are the highest ever. Sales of prasad (a religious offering from temples) online is at a frenzied peak, with Bangalore-based niche e-tailer OnlinePrasad set to triple its revenues by the end of Diwali as compared to its mid-August figures.

NEW DELHI: State-run BSNL is undertaking a host of promotional offers for the ongoing festive season including reducing video calls rates to the level of voice charges and giving full talk time on top-up recharges. The video call offer, which started from September 20, will be available for 90 days across the country. "BSNL mobile customers will be able to enjoy excitement of video calls at voice call charges during current festive season. We have largest 3G coverage in the country which enables the best quality of voice and video calls," BSNL Board Director (CM)

MUMBAI: Commodity bourse MCX could see a sizeable quantity of gold delivery early this month when jewellers and bullion dealers are encountering some difficulty in procuring the metal from banks ahead of the festive season because of import restrictions imposed by the government, bullion dealers and brokers said. Their forecast is based on a sharp jump in warehouse stock position of gold on MCX from 59 kilos on Saturday to 594 kilos on Monday. The MCX futures contract for gold expires on October 5. Bullion dealers attribute this jump in delivery position to traders having earmarked for delivery gold that they put up as collateral with the exchange to be able to trade on it. The accuracy of their forecast will be tested after October 5 when MCX releases delivery data for contracts that expire this month.

NEW DELHI: The country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp today reported over 30 per cent jump in its sales in September to six lakh units, riding on strong festive season demand. "As despatches will continue till midnight of September 30, the final tally for the month is expected to be much higher," the company said in a statement. The company had sold 468,670 units of two-wheelers in September 2013. In the past, Hero MotoCorp had crossed the 6-lakh plus monthly milestone in two previous occasions - in October 2013 when it sold 6.25 lakh units and in May 2014 when it sold 6.02 lakh units of two-wheelers.

BANGALORE: If Amazon chief Jeff Bezos had wanted a ringside view of the intense marketing battles taking place in India's e-commerce terrain, he couldn't have chosen a better time to visit the country. Bezos has landed in India bang in the middle of an advertising blitz unleashed by his company's competitors in India Snapdeal and Flipkart for the festive season. The shopping season from September-end to Diwali in late October is the top sales period in India, accounting for about 40% of the total for most brands.

NEW DELHI: Gold prices recovered by Rs 70 to Rs 27,300 per ten grams in the national capital today on pick up in festive season demand. Silver followed suit and gained Rs 65 to Rs 39,600 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers. Traders attributed the recovery in gold and silver prices to pick up in festive season demand. They said weak rupee against the American currency that made the imports of dollar-quoted gold costlier, also influenced bullion prices.

In a chat with ET Now, Tushar Mahajan, Head of Derivatives (Head of Listed Futures & Options, India), Nomura, talks about the markets. Excerpts: ET Now: The volumes were fairly decent for the first day of the new series on Friday. May be the S&P upgrade had to do something with it. How have you looked at the series gone by? What is your feeling about this current series? How do you think it will shape up over the course of the next 15-20 days? Tushar Mahajan: We are definitely entering a truncated series, with a host of holidays coming in this month.